Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider George Bennett took the lead in the Tour of California after a fantastic time trial in Big Bear Lake. The New Zealander placed fourth in the time trial won by Jonathan Dibben and took much time on the competition. Bennett sits 35 seconds ahead of second placed Rafal Majka and 36 seconds on Andrew Talansky in third spot with one stage to race tomorrow. 

Bennett ranked second in general behind Majka before the time trial and started as penultimate rider. The sixth stage covered 24 kilometres and the altitude, 2000 metres, made things harder. Bennett had to finish six seconds ahead on Majka and defend a 38-second lead at Talansky.

"I was riding and I didn’t hear much over the radio, then just about halfway, my director suddenly lit up after he got the intermediate times and just got super excited, yelling in my ear and I knew that something was happening," 27-years-old Bennett said. 

“My Sports Director Frans Maassen is usually calm and it wasn’t really until a couple of kilometres to go that I really stepped into it. I crossed the line and knew I had a good time. I was third or fourth or something. I was waiting for the clock to tick down and it was a pretty nervous few minutes.”

George Bennett raced the time trial of his life and finished 59 seconds ahead of Majka, but more importantly, he lost only two seconds on Talansky.

“There was a lot of feeling of disbelief at first when I crossed the finish line, but a lot of work had gone into that,” continued Bennett. “It’s not like I got good at time trialling overnight. I trained really hard for it, my coach has put in a huge amount and my team put me through the ringer on positioning and everything like that. I think it’s a huge credit to them that I could even finish in the top 10 in a time trail and take the lead.”

For Team LottoNL-Jumbo, time trialling and shorter stage races are focus areas. In recent months, and in close collaboration with Shimano, Lazer and Bianchi, the team has invested heavily in testing materials and bicycle position in the wind tunnel. The team has transferred the 'best practices' from recognised riders to the slower  riders within the team. All combined, the Team LottoNL-Jumbo riders made huge gains. Bennett made use of his ultra-fast Aquila CV time trial bike from Bianchi, S-Phyre's no-pins time trials suite and Lazer's fast time trial helmet.

The last stage in the Tour of California to Pasadena is a 125-kilometre mountain stage with two second class mountains and one at third category.